Topic: Service

Today we are going to look at the story of a godly man with a good heart and a great idea. This story from God’s Word speaks directly to something all of us will experience. It’s one of the toughest challenges a Christian can face—when God closes the door on […]

The task was simple: Engage someone in conversation—ask about her life, work, class-load, past, or dreams for the future—and don’t interrupt once while she shares. I’ll never forget when I received this assignment as a junior in college. I considered myself a good listener and was excited for an easy […]

I don’t know about your “Christian to-do list,” but mine’s getting long. I’m supposed to pray and read my Bible and be in a small group and serve and be a well-informed voter and protest abortion and lead family devotions and understand culture and read the latest Christian books and […]

Selfless or Self-Centered? What Kind of Servant Are You? (Kale Uzzle, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship) If you scan through the Bible’s vast array of stories, proverbs, and instructions regarding servanthood, there are three questions that distinguish the real thing from a false co-opting of servanthood. Praying Together as Mentoring and Discipleship […]

From time to time, we open our corporate prayer meetings by asking people to praise God for a specific attribute. There are some regulars: God’s power, love, kindness, help, strength, and grace regularly make the list. But as far as I can remember, there’s one attribute that has never come […]

In the restaurant business, there’s a saying: The waiter/waitress is a server, not a servant. The concept of servanthood is incredibly distasteful in our culture. America is (supposedly) a nation where no one is inherently better than anyone else. To us, being someone’s servant means you think of yourself as […]

I’ve been in pastoral ministry for nearly 18 years. A life-long call to Christian ministry requires perseverance, which enables God’s people to be equipped for ministry and exalts Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12). You may be a pastor, a lay ministry leader, or a church member, but faithful perseverance in Christian ministry […]

Find your life-balance—that statement that always seems impossible to attain. We often try to compartmentalize our lives: work life, home life, social life. But the lines overlap, despite our best attempts, especially when we become exhausted by our rat race. Controlled by tight schedules, busyness has become the badge of […]

Tax collectors and other outcasts had gathered in Matthew’s house for a feast. In the center of the hubbub, Jesus and his followers reclined at the dinner table. Noticing Jesus’s presence among such riffraff, the Pharisees scoffed. How could Jesus consider himself a rabbi and party with such a disreputable […]

How can the life of Jesus encourage a young mom who changes diapers? As a stay-at-home mother of four, my days are full of mundane tasks—endless cycles of preparation and cleanup for everything from dinner to laundry. Yes, there are tender moments that make it all worthwhile. But it’s easy […]

You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave. (Matthew […]

When my wife and I considered having kids, we worried we weren’t ready. In response, a friend of ours commented, “If you wait till you feel ready, you’ll never do it.” It’s often the same with serving. There are constantly things getting in the way of our feeling ready to […]

Faith is like a muscle – if it is not used, it will atrophy. Some of us spend time every day exercising certain muscles that we want to develop. You say, “I haven’t run for a week, and I feel the difference.” Similarly, if a week goes by without exercising […]